With The Great Escape Festival coming through town once a year, it gives you the great excuse (if you needed one) to delve through the eclectic mix of incredible new emerging talent on the festival bill. With over 500 acts to go through, you are bound to find at least a handful of gems – one of those gems is Oliver Coates.

This being his second mini (?) album to be released on Moshi Moshi's PRAH Recordings, Coates is still relatively anonymous across the musical board. However, he is predominately known as a cellist; being the lead in orchestras, performing with Actress or MF DOOM, collaborating with Massive Attack and Jonny Greenwood, playing classical with Okkyung Lee and Peter Zummo, ect. Coates’ accolades started when he attained the highest degree result in the Royal Academy of Music’s history before going on to New College at Oxford University where he completed his masters with distinction. Impressive to say the absolute least.

Being born into a modern generation of music history where one can scour the vast networks and readily available information on the internet, Coates is able to take in a wide range of different influences, ideas, and styles into his sound. The albums press release states, “Upstepping – … – is, like its creator, defined by its contrasts”, with the only thing that is constant on the LP is that the majority of sound comes from the cello which is then processed digitally. In Upstepping, he continues his venture into the synthesis between the sounds he can pull from his cello and the wide horizons of electronic music. The record’s title comes from one of Coates’ creative inspirations in seeing an interview with Genesis P-Orride, where she used the word “upstepping” in reference to the human race and how it’s able to transition – for Coates, it is the parallels of producing dance music alongside playing the cello. The first track ‘Innocent Love’ has a garage beat and yet it has an obvious cello sub-bass and instrumentation, showcasing that the two can evolve to work together.

The enticing ‘Timelapse (Walrus)’ nod more towards Coates’ love for dance music, featuring near to no recognisable cello. The brilliantly constructed track is percussive, melodic and a bit of a hypnotic banger. An Orbital-esque euphoria ripples through the ambient rave inspired track like it is 5am forever at an Ibiza house party. ‘Perfect Love’ is another perfect example of the musical wizardry Coates is capable of – not only does this incredible track hark of early 90s French techno, it is also 100% made by different types of cello attack. After the atmospheric and minimal ‘Memorial To Hitchens’ which clearly showcases a cello, we are again shown another facet to the possibilities with the instrument in ‘The Irish Book Of Death & Flying Ships’. The latter is a spacey futuristic odd-ball of a track which features abrupt futuristic rhythms over nonsensical speak that periodically makes way for ominous drones.

There is no doubt that Coates is a musical virtuoso – perhaps under-appreciated, perhaps the best is to come. With a wide-range of styles and ideas running through the album, it doesn’t necessarily make Upstepping an album to sit down and take in, however, there are some truly astounding tracks that are perfect for certain moments. When you take into consideration that this album was recorded in ever-changing temporary accommodation – Hong Kong whilst the students’ universal suffrage protests were going on, Cairo in the shadow of Egypt’s bombing campaign against Islamic State targets, countless soulless B&B’s and hotels – all whilst he and his wife’s new home was being gutted after flooding, the disjointed nature to the tracks are justified. Oliver Coates is a starling talent that is defining avant-classical music, but how will his show at St Georges Church be over The Great Escape Festival?
Iain Lauder

Website: OliverCoates.com
Facebook: facebook.com/OliverCoatesMusician
Twitter: twitter.com/OllyCoates